Aye, captain
It’s one thing to be a first-round draft pick in any sport – one with high expectations right from the start.
It’s quite another to live up to that billing. Yet that is what Spokane Chiefs captain Adam Hobson has done during his four years in the Western Hockey League.
To do so is difficult in major junior hockey, where the “science” of scouting is based in large part on the “art” of projecting whether a 15-year-old will be worth the investment at age 19 or 20. Hobson has turned out to be everything advertised.
Chiefs head scout Ray Dudra said in 2002 while drafting Hobson that “Spokane Chiefs fans are going to enjoy watching” him play and that he would be a physical presence. Dudra paid Hobson one of the highest compliments possible at the time, calling him “a Brandin Cote-type player.”
Cote, one of the most beloved Chiefs, was just finishing up his final season as team captain when Hobson was selected in the Bantam draft. Hobson has followed in Cote’s footsteps and, in many ways, broken new ground as a 19-year-old.
Dudra said this week that Hobson’s leadership skills were evident as a draft-age player, much like he saw in scouting both Cote and former Chiefs captain Derek Schutz.
“I just knew he was going to be that kind of guy,” said Dudra. “Adam – game in and game out – every night, he was their best guy (on his junior team). When you see players like that, you know that down the road they’re going to be the same player at 18 or 19. They just have that feel about them.”
Chiefs coach Bill Peters was an assistant coach when Cote was captain.
“There’s some similarities in the way they play,” said Peters. “They’re both two-way guys and should be able to play in all situations. The one thing with Adam is that he doesn’t bring that same sort of intensity that Brandin brought on a consistent basis. But when Hobby’s going well, they’re very similar players and that’s a fair comparison.”
Hobson is tied for the team lead in scoring this season, with the great majority of his 10 points coming from his seven assists – reflecting his ability as a playmaker. Last weekend, Hobson was also sporting a shiner he earned after retaliating for a teammate who was the victim of a borderline hit – all part of a veteran leader’s job.
“It’s a great honor to earn such a status, and especially for such a great organization,” said Hobson, who has been captain on every team for which he’s played. “It’s something I’m really looking forward to and something I’m going to really take pride in.
“I think it’s come with a lot of hard work and training throughout the years. Good coaching, as well, has helped and that’s steered me the right direction. I can’t take the credit. I think they’ve really pushed me the right way in this organization, so, hopefully, I can do the same thing and start leading the young guys in the same way.”
Hobson already has international hockey experience on his resume. He’s had stints with Canada’s silver medal-winning Team Pacific at the U-17 world championships (2003) and Canada’s U-18 gold medal-winning team at the 2005 world championships. He was recently named to Team WHL for the league’s annual matchup with a Russian all-star team.
Hobson has also earned numerous team awards, including: Scholastic Player of the Year (2004); Ken Rable Most Sportsmanlike (2005); and Player of the Year (2006).
Last season he emerged as one of the team’s top scoring threats, with a physical edge to his game, while earning a letter as an assistant captain. He was paired on a line with fellow National Hockey League draft pick Michael Grabner. Hobson is property of the Chicago Blackhawks while Grabner was Vancouver’s first-round pick this summer.
The two have shown a chemistry, which reflects their closeness off the ice – as they have been roommates for the past three seasons in the home of billets Rob and Rachael McCann.
They spend much of their free time together and have another link in common.
They are, in some ways, Scandinavian cousins of sorts. Grabner is an import player from Austria. Hobson was born in Sweden to a mother who is Swedish in a family that moved to Canada and eventually settled in Mission, British Columbia, a distant suburb of Vancouver.
When asked what his favorite dish cooked by mom is, Hobson said without hesitation, “Swedish meatballs.”
Grabner agrees that, in a way, Hobson is the team’s third “Euro,” along with Ondrej Roman.
“He’s kind of a Swede, but he doesn’t have the soccer skills,” Grabner jokingly said of Hobson. That’s fine, Hobson said. Given the choice, he said he’s “more Canadian than Swedish.”
That would explain his love of hockey above all sports while growing up as a child. Adam is the youngest of three boys. Middle brother Jonathon gave him the best example, as he played five seasons with Kamloops in the WHL.
“It was really good, because he got to show me the ropes,” said Hobson of his older brother, who was part of the University of Alberta’s Telus Cup championship team last season. “He told me what to expect and really led by example when he was younger – how to play my best, be the best that I can, and how to develop.”
Hobson’s father Steven said his son grew up in the rink.
Not only did Hobson spend his younger years at the rink while both his older brothers played hockey, but his father was the team physician for the Moose Jaw Warriors and Hobson got to hang out among the players as he entered grade school.
The hockey atmosphere helped fuel a single-minded passion for the game that allowed Hobson to make an immediate impact as a 16-year-old and has continued throughout his career as a Chief.
Dudra said Hobson would “be in the middle of things” and it certainly has become a trademark of his game.